THE threatened midwife-led maternity unit at Ludlow Hospital has had its first birth of the year.

Baby Amelia arrived at Ludlow Maternity Unit at 10.16pm on Sunday (January 8) fulfilling mum Kelly Worrall's wish for her to be born in Ludlow.

Amelia is the first baby to be born in Ludlow Hospital in 2017 and as has become a tradition the hospital League of Friends presented Amelia and Kelly with a silver spoon to celebrate the first arrival of the year.

STAFF shortages resulted in the temporary closure of the Maternity Unit at Ludlow Hospital.

The unit was closed between 8pm on Thursday (January 5) and 8am on Friday morning.

Midwives were still available on call for home births.

Women booked to give birth at Ludlow who went into labour during the temporary closure were offered a home birth or birth on another Unit.

The closure was blamed upon an unexpected short-term staffing issue.

Jo Banks, women and children’s care group director at the Shrewsbury and Telford HNS Trust, said that there had been staffing issues over the Christmas and New Year period.

“Our aim is to ensure that our service is staffed safely,” she said.

“Unfortunately at times when we have staffing issues, such as illness, we have to make temporary changes to ensure the safety of women using the services.”